Enclosure systems as in the type described herein are generally used in connection with large and/or small electrical switchboard systems, and are commonly used to house a plurality of interior mounting boards and accessories for holding electrical components, etc. Such enclosures may or may not require environmental control therewithin, and are generally filled to maximum capacity with such components and other accessories.
Environmental enclosures of this type are used for a wide variety of purposes. As such, it has become increasingly important in manufacturing such enclosures that the manufacturer be able to meet the changing demands of its customers and provide an enclosure which is highly versatile, efficient to use, and readily accessible to the interior thereof.
The interiors of such electrical enclosures must frequently be accessed. Thus, it is important to minimize the effort necessary for doing so. Because of the overcrowding of such electrical enclosures, it is often necessary to remove various components and sub-panels from within the same in order to make the enclosure more accessible. Sub-panel mounting boards which carry various components and other accessories are often removed and reinstalled, as necessary. For example, many conventional electrical enclosures must be accessed from the interior thereof in order to remove the various wall panels for restructuring purposes. In such case, it is frequently necessary to remove the various sub-panels from the interior thereof in order to access the necessary hardware for removing such panels. Also, the interiors of such enclosures often need to be accessed to repair various components and accessories, which requires removal of one or more sub-panels.
For the above reasons, there is a distinct need for an enclosure with easily removable sub-panel mounting boards that can be installed, removed and repositioned with relative ease to minimize time and labor associated therewith. This must be accomplished while maintaining high versatility and economy in manufacturing the same.
One conventional enclosure, which is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,722, discloses a sub-panel guide system which uses a pair of separately installed guide rails upon which a pair of slotted guide blocks, which are attached to the sub-panel mounting board, may travel. Because of the weight of such mounting boards, such a system is difficult to properly align with the slotted guide blocks riding on their respective rails. As such, installation thereof is more time consuming and labor intensive. Moreover, this system only provides for unidirectional installation of such mounting boards, which significantly reduces the versatility thereof.
By contrast, the sub-panel guide system which we have developed is highly versatile in that it receives such mounting boards in a plurality of orientations, and provides a readily accessible integrally formed guide channel for easy alignment and installation thereof. These advantages and more will become readily apparent from the following disclosure of our unique sub-panel guide system.